"Are you Enjoying the House?"

This evening, as I read a book on the front porch swing a neighbor walked by and asked me that. "Are you enjoying the house?"

We're subletting a cute house for the first month that we're here. It lets us settle in, find our next home, and have a home base in Portland.


This morning I lounged on the couch in the sun room (even though there wasn't any sun for a few hours) while I used their internet to check things off my to-do list and catch up with friends. For lunch I wandered into the back yard and picked fresh lettuce for a salad, which I tossed in a beautiful ceramic bowl in the kitchen.

Lettuce in the garden!

After lunch the sun was strong so I settled into a lawn chair and watched the birds, bees, and butterflies in the garden. When we were hungry for dinner, Bryan and I grabbed the bikes left in the shed by the house, donned the helmets left with them, and biked to a pizza place our sublet-ors left a note about. We pedaled the bikes around the neighborhood until sunset and then returned home.


With the last few minutes of daylight, I watered the hanging flower baskets on the front porch, and settled into the porch swing with a classic book I borrowed from the generous bookshelf in the living room.

Bryan enjoying the porch swing at sunset, beer in hand.

Yes, we are enjoying the house. To say the least, we are enjoying it. I can't imagine a better welcome to Portland.